


Seeing Double

by NovaButterfly



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2018-12-25 15:17:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12038619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovaButterfly/pseuds/NovaButterfly
Summary: Marco is surprised to find Tom in his house when he returns home and is not prepared to learn of the circumstances that lead him there.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So it should be noted that I am way behind in the show because I've been too busy to watch it. I wrote this first chapter at 3am when I could not sleep (literally right now). So we're gonna call this an AU since I don't know what's actually happening in the show currently. I've actually had this idea for a while so I'm glad to finally be writing it. I'm too tired to proof read this so just let me know if you spot any typos and I'll fix em when I can.

It had been a long day for Marco. It started with him sleeping through his alarm, being late for school, dropping his lunch in the cafeteria, doing badly on a pop quiz and ended with a long fight with a handful of monsters. Marco was bruised and dirty and he just wanted to take a shower and go to bed. He walked into the bathroom and looked at his tired face in the mirror. A black eye was forming on his left eye, a fairly deep cut went across his cheek and dried blood was stuck under his nose and on his bottom lip. Hopefully the cut wouldn’t scar. Even if it did, Star could probably fix it with her wand.

Marco sighed and turned to the shower. He wished he didn’t need one so badly. He was so tired he worried he would fall asleep against the shower wall. In his sleep deprived state, he thought he’d saw the shower curtain move. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. When it moved a second time he thought it was just a breeze from the vents rustling the fabric. When it moved for a third time, this time more violently, he knew there was someone, or something inside. It definitely wasn’t Star. She’d fallen asleep on the couch with half a slice of pizza in her mouth. It could be one of the laser puppies. Sure, that was it.

He made his way to the shower and slowly reached for the curtain. He didn’t want whatever was in there to know he was coming, just in case. He wrapped his fingers around the edge of the curtain and quickly pulled it away from the tub. Inside, sitting on the slightly damp tub floor, was Tom. He startled at first then grinned from ear to ear.

“Marco!” Tom exclaimed.

“Tom?! What are you doing in my shower in the middle of the night?” Marco asked, suddenly feeling the fatigue weighing down his muscles.

“I was looking for you. I thought you’d have to take a shower eventually, and I was right!”

“Why didn’t you just call Star?”

“Huh, good point. I didn’t even think about Star.”

“You? Not thinking about Star? Did you hit your head?”

“No, I don’t think so. I just really wanted to see you.”

Marco sighed and perched on the edge of the tub. “What for?”

“Just, ya know, to see you.”

“Really, Tom? It’s been a long day. I need to take a shower and go to bed.”

“Oh sure.” Tom stood and stepped out of the tub. “I’ll just wait in your room.”

“Why don’t you wait in your room? In your home?”

“Oh, he wouldn’t want me to come back there.”

“What? Who?”

“The other me.”

Marco knit his eyebrows together. He was too tired to be dealing with these riddles. “What are you talking about?”

“The other me! He wished me away and now I’m here.”

“Ok, just, go wait in my room. You can stay here and we’ll talk in the morning.”

“Great!” Tom practically skipped out of the bathroom, leaving Marco alone.

As he started the hot water he prayed that the demon would leave him alone and let him sleep when he was done. He was acting strangely but Marco was just too tired to worry about it. He stripped out of his clothes and stepped under the warm spray. His wet hair flopped in front of his eyes and he leaned against the cold wall, letting the dirt and blood drip off of him with the water. After a moment, he grabbed some soap and focused on the dirt cakes parts of his body. He rinsed his face once more, hissing at the sting of the cut on his cheek, and shut the water off.

Feeling slightly more refreshed, Marco wrapped a towel around himself and made his way to his bedroom. When he walked in Tom was sitting on his bed. He eagerly perked up when Marco entered the room. His cheeks tinted pink when he saw the boy wearing nothing but a towel. Marco grabbed his pajamas and a pair of clean underwear and prepared to get dressed when he noticed the demon watching his every move. Instead, he went to the closet and closed the door, only emerging after he was fully dressed.

“I’m going to sleep. You can sleep on the floor.” Marco said, pulling his covers back and climbing underneath as Tom slid off onto the floor.

Marco switched off his light and settled into bed, his eyes drifting close causing stinging tears of relief to spring to his eyes. Sleep was just beginning to grab him when he felt a dip in the bed. He rolled over only to see Tom, his elbows on the bed, his chin resting on his hands, watching Marco with a smile on his face. Marco rolled back over and tried to ignore him. Eventually he drifted off into a deep, much needed, sleep.

\---

When Marco woke up he felt very warm and very comfortable. After his long night the day before he just wanted to stay in bed the whole day. He curled in on himself to enjoy the warmth when his forehead nudged something soft but solid. A sudden weight pressed down over his middle and around to his back. Forcing his eyes open he saw red. Leaning back and rubbing his eyes, wincing as he put pressure on his bruised eye, he could make out where the red was coming from. Tom’s shirt. Tom was there next to him, fast asleep with his arms around Marco. That’s why he’d been so warm. Tom’s natural body heat was freakishly high.

On the one hand, Marco didn’t want to get up yet, on the other, he felt very weird cuddling with his friend. Things would only get worse if Star burst into his room and saw the two boys cuddling together.

Moving very carefully, Marco slid out from between Tom’s arms and sat up on the edge of his bed. He stretched with his arms high above his head and felt the muscles in his back pop. It felt like a bruise had formed on his right side and stung painfully when he touched it. His lip felt thick where it had been busted open with a punch to the face. He tenderly touched his cheek where the cut was and found a bandage covering the damage. He had no memory of bandaging it and wondered if Tom did it after he fell asleep. He’d have to thank him later.

His entire body hurt and he definitely didn’t have the energy to leave the house today. He could have cried when he glanced at his calendar and realized it was Saturday. He could spend the next two days recovering and relaxing around the house. As soon as he got rid of an annoying house guest that is.

Looking back at the sleeping demon, he wondered if he should kick him out so he could get some more sleep. His decision was partially made for him when his stomach growled loudly. He hadn’t eaten dinner the night before and his stomach was not happy about it. He’d get some breakfast and then make up his mind on whether he would let the demon stay or not. When he shuffled out of his room he was met with the warm smell of pancakes. Marco’s stomach growled loudly again and he began to salivate from the smell.

Carefully, he made his way down the stairs and found his parents sitting at the table with a large stack of pancakes in the middle of the table. They both had large grins on their faces and kept their hands folded in front of them. They watch Marco as he came to take a seat at the table.

“Um, are you guys ok?” He asked, grabbing a pancake from the top of the stack with his fork.

“Marco, good morning. Did you sleep well?” His dad asked.

“I guess so. I was pretty wiped so I kind of crashed.” His parents kept the grins that were beginning to creep him out. “What’s going on?”

“You know we love you Marco.” His mother said.

“Yea. I love you guys too.”

“We’re fine with whoever you date but well…we feel you’re still too young to have your boyfriend stay the night.”

Marco choked on the large mouthful of pancake he had stupidly chosen to take. He coughed and reached for the glass he’d filled with juice. When he was able to talk, and breathe, again he practically shouted. “What boyfriend?!”

“I heard you and Star come in awfully late last night and I just wanted to check in on you. It’s ok, there’s no need to be embarrassed.” His mom said, reached out and placing her hand on top of Marco’s.

“No! No, no, no. Tom is not my boyfriend! He stopped by last night and said he couldn’t go home so I let him stay the night. But I am not, in any way, dating him. He’s in love with Star. I didn’t even give him permission to sleep in my bed he was just there when I woke up.”

Marco’s parents let out a sigh of relief is unison. “Oh, thank the pancake gods. I was not ready to have that talk with you this morning.” His dad said, grabbing a stack of pancakes for his own plate.

“Is that the only reason you make pancakes?” Marco asked.

“We thought we could use a buffer to ease into the conversation. Although, we probably should have the sex talk sometime soon.” His mom said, causing both Marco and his dad to spit juice onto their plates.

“Mom! I already know about…all of that. Please don’t put me through this.” Marco practically begged.

“Fine, fine. But if you have any questions don’t be afraid to ask either of us. Right dear?” She asked, nudging her husband in the ribs.

“Yes of course. Marco please ask anything.” His dad placed a hand in the air to hide his other hand pointing to his mom.

Marco shook the embarrassment away and tried to focus on his breakfast and not that his parents had thought he’d had sex the night before. That was most definitely not the reason he was having a hard time walking this morning.

\---

After Marco hastily finished his breakfast and escaped the awkward situation, he hesitated outside of his bedroom door. He felt too embarrassed to face Tom now. What if he’d woken up and heard everything? With a deep breath, he sucked it up and opened his door. Tom was awake and sitting in the center of the bed. He smiled when Marco entered the room.

“Good morning!” He said, excitedly.

So he was still acting strange. Marco was still exhausted and was sore all over. He really didn’t want to deal with…all of that. But he knew he had to be good friend to at least find out what was going on with him.

“Morning.” He said, making his way across the room. “Are you going to hang out all day? Cause I’m still tired.”

“I don’t mind if you sleep more! I can just watch you.”

“Why would you watch me? You can go home now, can’t you?”

“Oh no. He was pretty mad when he threw me out last night. He said to never come back and he was glad to be rid of me.”

“Who?”

“The other me.”

“Yea, you said that last night. What does that mean?”

“Well, there’s two of me.”

“That clears up absolutely nothing.”

Marco was trying to figure out how to proceed when someone knocked on the door. A second later, Star was coming in with a plate full of pancakes.

“These pancakes are awesome. Oh, hey Tom. Your mom hardly every cooks breakfast for us I wonder why she decided to…wait. Why is Tom here so early in the morning?”

“It’s almost noon, Star.” Marco answered. “And I don’t know what he’s doing here. I can’t get a straight answer.”

“Let me try. Tom, why…stay with me here…are you here?” She asked, sitting on the floor in front of the bed.

“The other me said he wanted me gone and not to ever come back.”

“So…there’s two of you?”

“Yep.”

“Well, there you go. There’s too of him and the other told him to leave. What’s not to understand, Marco?”

Marco sighed and dragged a hand down his face, wincing when he bumped his split lip.

“But why? Why are there two of you?” He asked, exhaustion weighing heavy on him once again.

“The other me, the original I guess, cast a spell to remove me from him.” He explained, smiling the whole way.

“Remove you? Then what are you exactly?” Marco asked.

“Were you, like, growing out of the side of his neck or something?” Star asked, leaning in to hear the rest.

“I’m an emotion he decided he didn’t want to feel anymore. So he removed me and sent me away.”

“An emotion? What emotion? And why did he send you to me?”

“Oh, he didn’t send me to you. I wanted to come to you. I’m his feelings for you, Marco.”

“His feelings for me? He doesn’t want to be friends anymore?” Marco felt a little hurt by that. He thought they were getting along well.

“I don’t think it’s that. He just didn’t want to be in love with you anymore.”

The room fell silent as Marco took a minute to absorb what he’d just heard. Star stopped eating mid chew and let her mouth fall open.

“Come again?” She asked, cupping her hands around her ears to hear better.

“Tom is…in love with me?” Marco asked, not believing the words coming from his own mouth.

“Yep. When someone removes an emotion, it takes on a physical form. He didn’t expect that to happen so when he realized what I was he told me to get out. He didn’t want me around. So I came here. I’m literally all of Tom’s love for Marco. Where else would I go?”

“What am I even supposed to say to that?” Marco asked. “This is too much to take in all at once. I need to think. No, I need to sleep. Star, can you just…take him for a while?”

“Uh, sure.” Star said as she stood and grabbed Tom’s arm. He willingly left with her, closing the door behind them.

Marco sat on the edge of his bed and stared at his feet. So, one of his best friends was in love with him and hated it so much that he literally ripped the feelings out of him. Marco wasn’t sure how he should feel. Should he be hurt? Should he take this Tom back to the original and demand an explanation? It’s not like he could live with a part of Tom that only cared about him. That would be too weird.

Sleep. He needed more sleep and then he needed to talk to Tom. The original Tom.

 


	2. Bonus chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So first, thank you for all the support so far! I'm glad people are interested in this plot. I've been super busy with life and haven't been able to focus on the second chapter so I quickly wrote this little bonus. I will update as soon as I'm able! For now, the best place to reach me would be tumblr. I don't use it that often but I check it daily as I communicate with some friends there so feel free to send any questions there! the url is Nova-Butterfly make sure you put the dash because there is another NovaButterfly and that is not me!  
> Thanks again, I hope you guys enjoy this little bonus blurb!

Love. Tom was sure he felt it before. He had loved Star after all. But with Marco it was different. He found himself thinking about the other boy night and day. He was the last thing on his mind when he fell asleep and the first thing he thought of in the morning. Every time he looked at one of the photos they’d taken together the night they became friends, he smiled. It was an involuntary response and always brought the feeling of butterflies along with it. His heart raced when he knew that he was going to see the other, his face heated with blush when he caught himself watching his lips as he spoke, his palms became sweaty when he saw him. It was becoming harder for him to hide his feelings for the other and he knew that their friendship would come to a harsh halt if he told the truth.

Marco loved Jackie. He saw Tom as a friend, Star’s ex. He didn’t look at him with lovestruck eyes. Loving Marco was becoming agonizing. In a fit of despair and self-loathing, Tom turned to spell books. He scanned the pages for hours, looking for anything that would banish this feeling from his heart. Tired and about to give up hope, he found it. A way to remove his feelings for Marco forever.

In a small cauldron he placed his ingredients, anything that reminded him of the other boy. A photo of the two of them together, a Love Sentence CD, a ticket stub to a Mackie Hand movie marathon, the small pillow Marco favored from Tom’s bed littered with strands of his hair. The last ingredient was a drop of Tom’s blood, which he acquired by cutting the tip of his finger. Finally, Tom set the contents of the cauldron on fire while reciting an incantation. Every word caused a burning in Tom’s chest to grow more intense until he could no longer speak. He dropped to the ground, clutching his chest in pain. It felt like he’d been stabbed and cut open to bleed on the floor.

When the burning reached its worst, his chest began to glow and something rose from the light. Tom closed his eyes and waited for the pain to subside as he lay panting on his floor. He’d never felt a pain as intense as that had been. He felt over his chest and everything felt normal. His head throbbed slightly but other than that he felt fine. He reached for one of the pictures of him and Marco that had fallen and held it in front of his face. He felt nothing. It had worked and he felt great. He laughed and let out a sigh of relief.

His laughing quickly stopped when a shadow fell over him. When he looked up he found himself staring into his own eyes. As far as he knew, there was no mirror on his ceiling. He jumped and scrambled backward. The other Tom watched and tilted his head to the side. There was no denying it now, there was clone of him standing over him.

“Oh hey, is that a picture of Marco?” the clone asked as he grabbed the picture he still clutched in his clawed hand.

Tom watching as the clone smiled and blushed. Is that how he looked?

“Isn’t he cute? I could stare at this picture all day!” The clone exclaimed, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“What are you?” Tom asked, pulling himself to his feet.

“I’m you, duh.”

“How?”

“You recited that spell and ripped me out of you.”

“I just wanted to get rid of my feelings for Marco.”

“Yea, that’s what I am. Hey, what do you think he’s doing right now? Do you think he’s thinking of me and wondering what I’m doing?”

“What do you mean that’s what you are? The spell book said it would get rid of my feelings!”

“That’s what happened but those feelings have to go somewhere. What, did you think they’d just evaporate into thin air? That’s not the way it works. I’m impressed though. Usually when people do this the emotion is small. I’m practically the same size as you! You must really love Marco.”

“I don’t love Marco.”

“Well, you used to. Now that job is left to me! I should call him. Should I call him? No, yea I should definitely call him.”

“I don’t want this! I want you to go away!” Tom yelled, turning his back of the copy.

“Then fall out of love with Marco.”

“I don’t love him! I just…just leave! Go somewhere else! I don’t want those feelings anymore! I don’t want to see you, or hear you. I just want to go back to normal.”

“Where should I go?”

“I don’t care! Just don’t ever show your face around here again.”

“Better not look in a mirror! Get it…cause we have the same face. I have your face. So if you look in the mirror you’ll see my face.”

“Out!”

Tom shoved the clone through his bedroom door and slammed it shut behind him. Finally alone, he caught his breath and tried to pretend that none of that had happened. All that mattered is that he no longer loved Marco. He could be his friend without this constant agony of unrequited love.

\----

The clone walked from Tom’s home and thought about where he should go where he wouldn’t be seen by the original Tom. There was the forest of banishment, but he hadn’t really been banished and if he went there, he wouldn’t be able to see Marco. Marco! Of course. He’d go to see Marco. After all, he loved Marco.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little short but I've already written more. I just didn't think the next part fit well in one chapter. I finally have some free time to write so I should be able to update rather quickly next time. In the meantime, I want to thank all of you for the comments and kudos. I really appreciate it!

Star took Tom to her room where she set him up with a plate of pancakes. She’d known Tom a long time and he had claimed to be in love with her, but he had never done something like that. She realized that his love for Marco was different than the way he loved her. He pursued Star, sometimes aggressively, for years even after she dumped him. When he became friends with Marco he slowly lost interest in dating Star, to her relief. Now she knew why.

“So, you love Marco?” Star asked, sitting with her legs curled to her chest.

“Yep.” Tom said through a mouthful of pancake.

“Why wouldn’t you come to me about this?”

“Technically, I’m not the one you’re mad at. All I care about is Marco. It’s the original Tom that didn’t talk to you.”

“Yea but you at least have some of his thoughts in your head, right?”

“All the ones that revolve around loving Marco.”

“Ok so…why do you love Marco?”

“He’s hot.”

“Anything beyond that?”

“He’s funny and passionate about his interests. He’s easy to talk to and relaxing to hang out with. His smile is infectious and his eyes are mesmerizing. He gave me a second chance after I made a terrible first impression. I don’t need my bunny when he’s around.”

Star smiled at her friend. “That’s so sweet!” she jumped up and wrapped her arms around the clone of her friend. “Oh, Tom. Why would you do this to yourself? It’s ok that you love Marco.”

“The original Tom was afraid. All I have on my mind is Marco but he had so much more going on. He was afraid of being hated by him, afraid he’d get his heart broken.”

“But Marco could never hate you. Or…original Tom I guess. Not for something like that. Even if he doesn’t feel the same way, he wouldn’t stop being friends with you. Or Tom.” Star sighed. “This is getting too confusing. We need something else to call you.”

“How about…Marco’s Soulmate?”

“Lover Boy Tom?”

“Tom Diaz?”

“Oh! I know! We can combine your names…so…Mom? Wait…”

“Mr. Tom Diaz?”

“Tom 2.0?

“Marco’s boyfriend?”

“How about we just call you T?”

“Yea, I guess that works.

\---

When Marco awoke from his nap he felt groggy and disoriented. He stared at the ceiling, waiting for his brain to fully wake up and make sense of his surroundings. As he came to his senses he wondered if perhaps everything had been a dream. He’d been so tired and the whole idea was just ridiculous. Why would Tom rip an entire part of himself out just to keep from feeling it?

He quickly got dressed in his usual attire, the red hoodie comforting after the last two days. Taking a deep breath and preparing himself for reality, he left his room and headed to Star’s. Loud music sounded from the other side of the door, the base thumping making the door rattle. Marco didn’t think he’d be heard if he knocked so he let himself in. Star and T didn’t even notice he had come in as they were in the middle of a performance.

The two danced around wildly and sang loudly. Star was using her wand as a microphone and Tom was doing a fairly convincing air guitar. Marco made his way to the CD player and turned it off. As soon as they realized the music had stopped, they both turned their attention to Marco. T perked up and made his way across the room to him.

“You’re awake!” He exclaimed, pulling him into a hug.

“Uh, yea.” Marco said, lightly dislodging himself from T’s arms.

“Did the nap help?” Star asked, climbing down from her bed, where she’d been jumping a moment ago.

“Not really. I’m still very confused about everything and I’m not sure how to react. But I think I’ve come up with a kind of solution.”

“Give in an accept T’s feelings?”

“No. Wait, T?”

“That’s what we’re calling him.” Star said, gesturing to T.

“Oh…well, no. I have to go and see Tom. I’m not going to get anywhere without getting some answers from him first.”

Star’s face melted into a look of concern. She wanted answers as well, but she wasn’t sure if seeing Tom would make Marco feel any better. Still, she went to her drawer and retrieved her dimensional scissors.

“I’m not letting you go alone.” She said.

“I don’t think it would be a good idea if you went. I will be taking him though.” Marco pointed at T, who was patiently listening.

“Me? No, I can’t. He told me not to come back.” T said, suddenly very anxious.

Marco instantly felt bad for what he was about to say, but he need T to come with him. “If you really love me, you won’t make me go alone.”

T looked conflicted but he sighed and grasped Marco’s hand. “Ok. I’ll go.”

“Be careful, ok?” Star wasn’t worried that Tom would do anything, she just wasn’t sure it wouldn’t be emotional taxing for the boys.

Marco took the scissors and cut a whole in the open air. “We’ll be back soon.”

Marco stepped through the space, pulling T through behind him.


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy dialogue Batman!  
> So this was a lot and I'm not sure how happy I am with the chapter but I've been working at it in my head for a while and I think it's time I just release it into the world and see how you guys like it. Also, listening to show tunes was probably not the best choice while writing this as I had to take a break during a heated part to sing along to Welcome to the 60s and it kind of killed the mood and took me a while to get back into...

When Tom woke up he felt numb. Usually he would roll over and see the picture of him and Marco on his bedside table and his day would start off happy. This time he just saw a boring memory with a friend. He didn’t even have the motivation to sit up in bed. He didn’t know what to do with his time anymore. What did he do before he pined for Marco? Oh…that’s right, he pined for Star. Those feelings had gone away on their own…when he’d fallen for Marco. Wouldn’t it stand to reason that his feelings for Star would come back then? Still, he felt nothing.

He forced himself to sit up and glanced around his room for something to do to entertain him. There were video games, but his favorite was two player and he needed Marco there to play with him. He was the only one who didn’t drive him crazy while playing. They worked well as a team. Shaking that thought away, Tom moved his eyes to the stack of comics in the corner of his room. He could read but…he needed to borrow the next volume from Marco. He couldn’t buy it in the underworld and going up above to buy it was too much of a hassle.

Frustrated, he swung his legs over the edge of his bed, his eyes landing on the small cage near his closet. He moved to sit on the floor in front of the cage and reached in to pull out Marshmallow. The bunnies soft fur was a familiar comfort that helped to clear Tom’s head.

The sound of a dimensional rip, from somewhere behind him, sent the hairs on Tom’s arms straight up. He wasn’t sure who would be dumb enough to barge into his room via a dimensional rift without warning or permission. He held onto Marshmallow to try and contain his anger as he stood and turned to face the intruder.

As Marco appeared through the portal Tom felt a hollow feeling clench his chest. Wasn’t he supposed to be happy to see him? The sight of his face, his familiar red hoodie, the little mole on his cheek, caused a pang of, what Tom could only think to describe as, mourning to strike him. He didn’t know what to say to him. How did he interact with him now that he was just another friend? How did he interact with him before? He couldn’t even remember.

“Marco…I wasn’t expecting you.” He said, setting Marshmallow on his bed, no longer feeling he needed the calming comfort.

“Yea, sorry for stopping by unexpectedly, but you kind of did it first.” Marco sounded agitated as he yanked on something seemingly stuck in the portal.

Tom had expected to see Star or some other friend of Marco’s to come stumbling through. Instead, he saw himself. First shock, then confusion, then anger passed over Tom. He marched toward the two as the rift closed and grabbed the other, slightly shorter, version of him by the collar of his shirt.

“What the hell are you doing here?! I told you to never come back here!” He shouted.

“Marco asked me to come.” T said, trying to free himself from the other’s claws.

“Why?!” Tom turned his glare to Marco.

“I want an explanation.” Marco said, not really in the mood to mess around.

Tom huffed and let T go with a little shove. “Get him out of here.”

“Why did you send him to me?” Marco asked.

“I didn’t.”

“I can’t keep him at my place.”

“I don’t want him. He’s not my problem. Just have Star blast him away or something.”

“He is your problem! He’s a part of you.” Marco felt more anger towards Tom than he was expecting. His heart sped up and adrenaline rose up inside of him.

“Not anymore.” Tom had turned his back to them and refused to look back, instead distracting himself by flipping through comics.

“He told me what he is Tom. I think I deserve some kind of explanation! Or at least an excuse.”

“He’s just something that used to be in me and isn’t anymore.”

“Why didn’t you just come to me and tell me that you love me?” Marco asked.

Tom tensed up as his claws curled around the comic he was holding, shredding the cover. “I don’t.”

“Maybe not anymore. But you did. He’s proof that you did.”

“He was just an annoyance. If he’s annoying you then get rid of him. I’m sure Star has some kind of spell in that book to destroy him.”

“I’m not going to destroy him! He’s still you.”

“He’s not!” Tom finally turned back to Marco. “He’s not me anymore! I don’t want that part of me anymore!”

“Why?! If you had just come to me I wouldn’t have turned you away! You’re my friend and I care about you! I would have accepted you no matter what!”

“Do you love me?” T asked, reminding the two that he was standing there.

“What? I…what?” Marco asked, flustered and caught of guard by the question.

“You said you would accepted me. So, you would have accepted these feelings? So you love me? Marco loves me!”

Before Marco could deny the accusation, T sprung forward and grabbed Marco’s cheeks between his hands and kissed him. His thumb lightly touched the still bandaged cut on his cheek, his other hand moving to touch Marco’s hair. Marco stared wide eyed at the blurry T, his closed three eyes morphing into one from the close view. He wasn’t sure how to react as his brain was moving at the pace of a snail.

Tom, the only person left in the room not distracted by a kiss that was turning into a particularly long lip lock, grew hot with anger. Fire rose around him as he marched toward the two, leaving scorched footprints in the carpet in his wake. He grabbed T by the arm and yanked him away from Marco, sending him flying across the room. T crashed into the wall before landing hard on the floor.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” Tom directed his anger at Marco now.

“I didn’t do anything! He kissed me! _You_ kissed me!”

“You weren’t exactly rushing to push him away!”

“Why do you even care? You say he’s not you anymore!”

“He’s not he’s…he still looks like me!” Tom’s face had turned two shades darker, but Marco wasn’t sure if it was from anger or embarrassment.

Marco looked around Tom to where T had landed, he was rising back to his feet. Marco shoved past Tom to go to his aide.

“You ok?” He asked T.

“Yea. I may only be an emotion, but I’m still built strong like him.” T said, brushing bits of wall from his hair.

Looking up, Marco found a T sized crater in the wall. He sighed, trying to quickly process everything that had happened in the past ten minutes.

“Get out.” Tom said from the other side of the room. He sounded tired.

“Fine. This isn’t over though.” Marco turned to T. “Let’s go.”

“No. He stays here.” Tom said, glaring at T.

“I don’t think so. I’m not letting you destroy a part of you.”

“So what, you’re just going to keep him?!”

“You don’t want him, where else would he go?” Marco grabbed T’s hand and pulled out the scissors, cutting a new dimensional rift back home.

Tom’s glared focused on their interlocked hands as they disappeared through the portal.

\---

Star laid on her floor, holding a magazine over her head and flipping through the fashion pages. It hadn’t been long since the boys had left but she was already bored of waiting for them. She flipped onto her stomach and thought of conjuring up some popcorn, when a rift opened up beside her bed.

“Welcome back…boys.” Star’s enthusiastic welcome lost its cheer when she saw the angry Marco come into her room. “What happened?”

“Tom’s a jerk, that’s what happened.” Marco said, letting go of T’s hand and plopping down on Star’s bed with crossed arms.

“Well, duh. I could have told you that. No offense, T.”

T shrugged. After all, he was only a small part of Tom. Besides, after being thrown into a wall by him, he kind of agreed with Star. And the whole, wanting to destroy him thing didn’t help his impression of him either.

“Tom wouldn’t talk about it and kept suggesting that we kill T.” Marco explained.

“No!” Star shouted, jumping to her feet. “We can’t hurt T!”

“That’s what I said. Then T…well…we…um.” Marco suddenly found the pattern on Star’s comforter very interesting as that’s all he would look at.

“You what?”

“We kissed.” T said, a big grin forming on his face.

“What?!” Star’s cheeks turned pink at the thought.

“It was awesome.” T giggled.

“Tom threw him into a wall.” Marco sighed.

“Hold on one freaking minute here. Why did you two kiss in front of Tom? Were you trying to get killed??”

“It was his fault.” Marco gestured to T.

“He said he accepts my feelings.”

“That’s not what I said! Just…anyway. I’m not talking about this anymore. T is going to have to stay here until we can get through to Tom.” Marco said, quickly changing the subject.

“He’s awfully thick headed. Maybe we should just accept T as a second person? Tom’s nice twin?” Star suggested.

“No. Cutting a part of yourself out can’t be healthy. He didn’t really seem himself at all. I think he needs every part of him to be…well…himself.”

“What are we supposed to do?”

“I don’t know…maybe you could talk to him? Or we could get Brian to talk to him. He’s his emotional sponsor or something, right?”

“I can try but…where is T going to sleep?”

“Marco’s room!” T said, excited by the prospect.

“Think you can conjure up a bed for him?”

T frowned at the thought of not getting to share a bed.

“Sure thing, buddy.” Star grabbed her wand and headed to the door. She stopped and turned back to Marco. “Everything will be fine Marco. Tom’s just lost. We’ll get through to him.”

Marco managed a small smile. “I hope so.”


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter but I felt like it was a good place to stop. Not many chapters left!

Star paced back and forth in her room. Her friends were hurting, and she knew she had to do something about it. Taking T to see Tom was a bad idea that only made things worse. Tom used to confide in Star all the time, so maybe if she went to see him he would open up and talk to her. She still felt a little hurt that he didn’t come to her in the first place, but this wasn’t about her and she had to push that feeling away in order to help her friends.

Star quietly exited her bedroom and tiptoed down the hall to the top of the stairs. She carefully peeked down the stairs to make sure that Marco and T were still on the couch watching a movie. Once she was sure they were distracted, she snuck back to her room and pulled out her dimensional scissors. This had to end, and she was going to be the one to end it.

Star stepped out of the portal outside of Tom’s bedroom door. Taking a deep breath to prepare herself, she raised her fist and knocked on the door. On the other side Tom called out for her to come in. She found him sprawled out on his bed, staring at the wall.

“Hey, buddy. You ok?” She asked, closing the door behind her.

“Just peachy.” He responded sarcastically.

“Not feeling well?”

“Nothing entertains me anymore. Everything is just so pointless and boring.”

Star sat on the edge of his bed with a sigh. “Sounds like you’re depressed. Maybe because of heartbreak?”

Tom turned his eyes to look at her. “What would I be heartbroken about?”

“Just because you removed your feelings, doesn’t mean you’re not feeling the effect. You essentially lost the one you loved. That’s got to hurt.”

“Let it hurt the other one then.”

“Why would T be hurting? Not only does he love Marco, he gets to spend every waking hour with him. They’re also sharing a room.”

“What?!” Tom shouted as he sprang up with fire in his eyes.

“Yep, they’re doing great.”

“Is this what you came here for? To try and anger me?” Tom asked, standing and turning his back to her.

“Of course not. I’m just trying to make you feel something, so you can see you made a mistake.”

“It wasn’t a mistake.”

“Why didn’t you talk to me about how you were feeling? I could have hinted around and found out if Marco was feeling the same.”

“There would have been no point! I don’t want to love him!”

“But why not?”

“I don’t want to talk about this. If you don’t want that thing hanging around, then just do what I suggested and blast him away. I’m sure you’ve got something in that wand of yours that can destroy him.”

“I won’t do that. I won’t destroy a part of you, Tom.”

“You sound just like Marco.”

“Because we both care about you!” Star took a deep breath to calm herself. “This is just out of character for you. When you liked me, you let me know. You pursued me openly and aggressively. You wouldn’t even let other guys come near me. So why is this so different?”

“You didn’t start out hating me.”

“What?”

Tom sighed and came to sit beside her on the bed. “You want me to talk about it? Fine. Marco hated me from the moment we met. He chopped my hand off! I may have been using him the night we became friends, but we managed to find some middle ground. We suddenly were friends and becoming closer by the minute. When I realized I loved him, I was afraid it would ruin everything. I knew he had someone he liked, and it would just be painful for me to continue loving him. So, I found a spell.”

“But you don’t seem like you’re doing so great now. It’s like you’ve lost the will to love all together.”

“Maybe I have. Look, I just want to be alone.”

“Sure. For now. I will be back to check up on you though.”

Tom chuckled quietly. “Sure thing, Butterfly.”

Star stepped back through the portal into her room and felt like she deflated. She felt sorry for Tom. No one should feel like they have to keep their love hidden. In some way she understood why he was pushed as far as he was. Marco talked about Jackie any chance he could. She just wished she had known so she could have softened the blow.

A knock came from her door and T popped his head in.

“We’re gonna make ice cream sundaes, do you want one?” He asked happily.

“Sure, but, uh, T? Can we talk for a minute?”

He nodded and came into her room the rest of the way. Star sat on her bed and patted the spot next to her for him to join her.

“I know you don’t have all of Tom’s memories, but you do know when he fell in love with Marco, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Could you tell me about it?”

“Well I had started having feeling for him little by little as we spent time together. I was still denying it was anything but friendship, but then there was the first time her invited me to the dojo to see his match. He was so cool out there, even when he fell down. When he won he was just so excited and I was excited for him. He ran over to me and threw his arms around me in a big hug.” T’s face lit up with a smile from the memory of it. “It was the first time he hugged me like that and my heart felt like it was going to explode. I knew then that I loved him. I couldn’t pretend anymore like I didn’t.”

Star was quiet for a moment, taking in everything she’d heard from Tom and T. Maybe if she could recreate the moment, something would happen in Tom and he’d be back to normal and accept his feelings.

“I remember that match. I thought Tom had seemed extra cheery that day. I just didn’t know why.”

“Marco’s probably wondering what’s taking so long.”

“Yea. Let’s go stuff our faces with ice cream.” Star smiled as they leapt off her bed.

Out in the hall, Marco quickly scurried down the stairs before they found him listening at the door. He made it to the kitchen before they saw him and pulled the fudge from the beeping microwave. They entered the room, none the wiser that Marco had heard everything.

“Chocolate or vanilla?” Marco asked.


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I already have the next chapter written and the plot planned out till the end. I have maybe one or two chapters left to write and then it will be over. I am working on a new Tomco fic though so look out for that after this one ends!

Marco lied in his bed staring at the ceiling. He’d left Star and T together saying he wasn’t feeling well from eating too much ice cream. They agreed to leave him alone to rest for a while. In reality, it wasn’t his stomach that was bothering him, but a higher organ. He’d heard T’s story about the day Tom fell in love with him. He remembered that day. He’d been so happy to have won his match. His parents were there, his friends were there, Star was there, but the first person he ran to hug, was Tom.

Why had he gone to him first? Shouldn’t he have gone to his parents, or Star? If Jackie had been there, would he have gone to her or would he have been too awkward to hug her? Why was it so easy for him to pick Tom at that time? Maybe if he hadn’t they wouldn’t be in his mess. Tom may have never realized that he loved Marco at all.

No, Marco couldn’t think like that. Maybes and ifs were pointless. He needed to focus on what was happening now, because it did happen. Now he wasn’t sure what he felt for Tom. Yea, they were friends. Good friends. They became close and that was great. Not being able to see Tom now hurt. But why? Because he missed his friend, because his friend was hurting, because maybe he had feelings for Tom as well that he’d been repressing? He didn’t know and having T around didn’t help.

Yea T clung to him and told him repeatedly that he loved him but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t see T as Tom. He had the same face, he was only slightly shorter than the original, and he was literally a part of him, but he wasn’t the whole package. T felt like a stranger to him. If it had been Tom who was confessing his love he would either be very flashy and bring flowers, or he’d blush and call Marco stupid. He’d shyly hold his hand, not try to wrap his whole body around him like T did. The thought of it made Marco smile. Maybe he did have feelings for Tom.

The best thing to do to test his feelings would be to go and see Tom, but he couldn’t do that. What would be the point of figuring out he loved him now, if Tom didn’t love Marco anymore?

Star knocked on the door and opened it a bit. “You feeling better, buddy?” She asked.

“Not really.” Marco sat up and turned his gaze to the floor. “I’m trying to sort out my feelings for Tom but…how can I know for sure without interacting with him?”

“T’s right down stairs. Can’t you use him?”

“He’s not Tom. I mean, he’s not all of Tom. It’s not the same. I don’t want T, I want Tom.”

“You want Tom? Seems like you just figured it out on your own.”

Marco took a shaky breath. “Why did he have to do it this way? If he had just come to me and told me how he felt I could have…even if I didn’t realize right away, I would have!”

“I know. I’m trying to figure out a way to combine T and Tom into one again. There has to be an answer in my book somewhere. Once I succeed, and you know I will, everything will be good again and you can talk to Tom about your feelings and play some tonsil hockey.” Star grinned.

Marco cracked a smile that was accompanied by a light blush. He playfully threw a pillow out her, which she dodged by ducking out of his room and closing the door. The pillow hit the door and then landed on the floor with a puff of air.

Star felt a bit of hope as she walked down the hallway towards the stairs. Marco liked Tom. If Tom knew he would help Star figure out how to combine the two together again. Or would he? Star’s smile fell away. He didn’t love Marco without T. So, there was a chance he wouldn’t have any reaction to finding out about Marco’s feelings. Maybe telling him wasn’t a good idea. Star would have to go it alone.

T sat on the couch staring at the ground but looking lost in his thoughts. Star stood in front of him and tilted her head to the side. T was always happy because he was with Marco and living in Marco’s house. This was the first time she’d seen him looking like this. It seemed like Star was going to be the emotional sponge for everyone.

“You ok?” She asked, sitting on the end of the couch with her legs curled underneath her.

“Yea, I think so. I love Marco.”

Star giggled. “Yea, I got that from you professing your love ten times an hour.”

“I mean, because I love him I want him to be happy. He won’t be happy with me, he needs Tom. I am Tom, or at least a part of him, so really I’ll be getting him too if Tom wins his heart, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then I need to rejoin with Tom. For Marco’s happiness.”

“I’m going to miss you. Tom is never as honest as you.”

T smiled. “I don’t have as much to think about.”

“Well, would you like to assist me in searching the magic book for an answer to all of our problems?”

“If it’s for Marco, then yes.”

Star rolled her eyes. “Why can’t Oskar be like that with me? Maybe I should send you to give him some lessons before you go back.”

\----

Star and T sat in the middle of her bedroom floor with the magic book in front of them. Star knocked lightly on the cover.

“Glossaryck? You in there?” She called.

The book slowly began to creak open, revealing a small blue man in a robe. The cover of the book dropped to the floor with a loud smack. Glossaryck floated in midair above the book with his legs crossed.

“Princess Butterfly, it’s been a while since you’ve asked for my help. You think you know everything there is to know about magic now, is that it?” He asked.

“Of course not. I just haven’t needed any guidance lately. Besides, you never just pop up and say hi either. Relationships are a two-way street.”

“Yea, yea. So what do you need today? And why is the one here?” He pointed to T with a look of annoyance.

“This is T. He’s an emotion that Tom ripped from his body. We need a way to reverse the spell.”

“You can’t reverse the spell.”

“Why not?”

“Only Tom can reverse the spell. He must look deep within himself and accept the emotion that he removed. Only when he willingly hugs the embodiment of his emotions will the spell be reversed.”

“So, just get Tom to hug T?” Star asked, looking to the boy beside her.

“That’s the gist of it. Now, you got anything to eat?”

Star handed over the bowl of ice cream she’d prepared for him. She looked at T and sighed. This would not be easy.

“Tom is extremely stubborn. Getting him to accept that he loves Marco isn’t going to be an easy task.”

“What if you hold him down and I just rush him and grab him?” T suggested.

“Won’t work.” Glossaryck said through a mouthful of ice cream. “It’s got to be Tom who initiates the hug and accepts you back into his body.”

“Maybe I can try talking to him again.” Star said, her face mirroring the feeling of doubt.

“I should go with you. I’m a part of him so he might listen to himself. And if all goes well I’ll already be there so he can’t change his mind.”

“Good idea. Don’t tell Marco though. He’s got enough to worry about and he’ll just insist on coming with us.”

T’s face clouded with sadness as he turned his gaze to the floor. He picked at the fibers in Star’s carpet. “I wish I could be enough. I know I’ll still be with him but it’s not really the same.”

“I’ll never forget you and I’m sure that Marco won’t either. After all, it’s thanks to you that he realized his feelings, right?”

“Yea.”

Star leaned forward and wrapped her arms around T. “Everything will be great, you’ll see.”


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a baby chapter. I'm trying to update once a week on Wednesday. There are two chapters left that I've already written so we're almost done! I barely use twitter but I've kind of been talking about my fic there so if you want sometimes updates on where my fics are at my twitter name thing is Nova_Butterfiy I used a capital i for the l cause there was already someone with an l

Star and T agreed to wait a few more days before they went to see Tom. It gave T a little more time to spend with Marco and Star had time to craft her speech she’d be delivering to Tom. While Star and Marco were at school, T hung around the house reading Marco’s comics and going through his stuff. When they got home he was waiting at the door for them like a puppy. Star would head to her room to try and focus on what she’d say while T would do whatever Marco wanted to do.

They went bowling, ate ice cream, listened to music, watched TV, went to the dojo, took long walks with the laser puppies, and for all of it T was attached to Marco’s side. Had he known that it was because he would potentially be gone soon, Marco might not have gotten as annoyed by it. He never realized how much he cherished his alone time until it was gone.

Even when he went to bed at night, T was right there sleeping in the bed beside his that Star had conjured up for him. He would feel T’s eyes staring holes into him as he tried to fall asleep. In the morning, T was always awake first and would wake Marco up with a kiss to the forehead.

Marco’s parents had noticed the way T looked and acted around Marco and questioned him again about why he was staying there and was he sure they weren’t dating. Marco insisted that they weren’t dating and T would be gone soon. His parents gave him skeptical looks whenever they saw them together. It was really beginning to get to Marco, but he tried to hold it in because he knew it wasn’t T’s fault that he was there with them.

On this particular day, Marco wanted to spend his afternoon quietly watching a movie on the couch. T sat beside him, leaning into his side with is head on Marco’s shoulder. All Marco wanted was some time by himself, or at least sitting on opposite ends of the couch. He didn’t want to hurt T’s feelings but loving someone doesn’t mean you want to spend every waking moment with them. He didn’t understand how T could stand being around him all day.

Marco was actually looking forward to going to school for a few hours alone. Well, relatively alone. A classroom full of people was better than losing the use of one of his arms because T wouldn’t let it go. Of course, all of this just confused Marco’s feelings even more than they were before. If he couldn’t stand being around T all the time, maybe he didn’t love Tom after all. Though T wasn’t Tom and there was the highly probable chance that Tom would not be as clingy. But looking at the way he was with Star, maybe he would be.

Marco abruptly stood, shaking T off of his arm. T stared up at him, concerned and maybe a little hurt.

“I…have to pee.” Marco lied, racing off toward the bathroom.

With the door closed and locked, he sat on the edge of the tub and placed his head in his hands. Once again, he wished to go back in time and stop Tom from ripping his feelings for him out of his body. Maybe then they could have a conversation about their relationship and everything would be fine.

Marco thought again about why Tom would go so far. Was loving him just that repulsive? Tom was never shy about who he liked so it didn’t seem like it had anything do with gender. He just hoped Star would figure out a way to fix everything soon so that life could get back to normal. Or at least as normal as it could be with them.

Marco had been in the bathroom too long and knew that T would come searching any second if he didn’t hurry up. He went to the sink and splashed some cold water on his face and took a deep breath. Everything would be fine soon.

\----

Star came downstairs to find T sitting on the couch alone. She crossed the room and sat beside him.

“Where’s Marco?” She asked, eyeing the movie that was only half over.

“Bathroom.” T responded, not taking his eyes off the TV.

“It’s been a few days since we last talked and…I think it’s time we go see Tom.”

T finally turned to look at her. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sorry, but we shouldn’t wait any longer. This has to be dealt with.”

“I understand.”

“Try not to be sad. Remember, you’ll still get to be with him.”

“Yea.”

Marco made his way back to the living room, expecting to find T watching the doorway excitedly for him to come back. Instead he found him talking quietly with Star.

“Everything ok?” He asked, startling the two.

“Everything is great. I just want to try something to reverse the spell and I need T’s help.” Star said, not really lying.

“Oh. Ok. Great. If you guys are going to be busy I’ll just go out and get us some snacks.” Marco said, grabbing his keys and trying not to look too excited about going out alone.

“Take your time!” Star smiled, trying not to seem suspicious in any way.

“Bye Marco.” T waved, looking uncharacteristically sad.

“See ya.” Marco headed for the door, only stopped when T came up behind him and hugged him.

“I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll only be gone for like ten minutes.” Marco tried not to sound annoyed.

“Sure. See you when you get back.”

With that Marco left the house, closing the door behind him.

In the living room, Star grabbed T’s hand and pulled out her dimensional scissors.

“Ready?” She asked.

“Ready.”


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After I said I was going to update on Wednesdays, I miss this week. I'm babysitting my nieces so it's been a little hectic. If anyone goes to Tekko in Pittsburgh and you see a tired pink haired lady with four kids, that's me.

Star had expected to find Tom just like she had before. He’d get angry as soon as he saw T and she’d have to talk him down and get him to listen to her. It would take some time and she may have to come back again and try and keep trying until she succeeded. She was prepared for whatever it took to get through to her friend.

What she hadn’t expected was to find his room torn to shreds and shrouded in darkness. She used her wand to light the way in front of them. What they saw were books torn apart, discs broken in half, shards of glass scattered around, pillows ripped open, their stuffing strewn about. Star carefully stepped through the mess with T following in her footsteps. As she made her way deeper into the mess, she began to worry that someone had attacked Tom, and this was the remnants of their battle.

A scratching noise caused both Star and T to stop in their tracks. Star carefully angled the light to the spot the sound had come from. Sitting in the middle of the room, with a circle of mess around him, was Tom. Star continued forward, cautiously.

“Tom? You ok?” She asked.

He looked over his shoulder at her. In the limited light she could see dark circles under his eyes. His hair was a mess, having not been styled, brushed or even washed in days. He had a ripped-up blanket around his shoulders.

“Star, how nice to see you.” His voice was hoarse, and gravelly.

“What happened here?”

He looked around, as if he hadn’t noticed the mess before. “I haven’t been sleeping and I got angry, so I started throwing stuff. I don’t remember the rest.”

“Why haven’t you slept?”

“Can’t. Every time I close my eyes, I see his face and then I start feeling sick. My chest hurts, and it won’t stop.”

“Tom, I’m worried about you.”

“Why?”

“Why? Look at this place, look at you! I can make it all stop if you’ll just listen to me.”

“Are you going to cast a spell on me?” He smiled as if the thought was a silly joke.

“Sure. But first, you need to give me a hug.” Star said, setting her wand aside and opening her arms.

“Did you miss me that much?” He giggled.

“I sure did. Come on.”

Tom stood and wobbled on his feet. He staggered over to Star and gave her a weak feeling hug. Tears came to Star’s eyes as she held him close to her. She quickly brushed them away and released him.

“How about a hug for T too?” She asked.

Tom looked at T, noticing him for the first time. His eyes fell into a glare and he backed away from the two.

“Why is he here again? Why do you guys keep bringing him back?” Tom asked, angry.

“He’s worried about you too. He just wanted to make sure you’re ok.”

“I don’t want him here! I hate him! He’s the reason I’m like this!”

Star approached slowly. “It’s ok Tom. If you hug T, everything will be ok. You’ll be able to sleep.”

Tom’s eyes opened wide as he quickly looked between the two.

“I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to reverse the spell. Just hugging him won’t do it! I read the book after I sent him away. It said I have to accept him and I don’t! I will never feel that way again!”

“Tom, please let me help you.” Star pleaded.

T stepped forward and put his arm in front of Star to stop her from moving any closer. He looked at Star and gave her a small smile before turning to Tom with a look hard as stone.

“It’s ok. We tried, and we failed. I’ll just keep Marco for myself.” T said, crossing his arms.

“What?” Tom’s voice was laced with venom as he took a step closer to T.

“I’m already living with him and sharing a room. We spend every day together. I’m glad I get to stay with him forever.”

“You’re not going back to him.”

“Why not? He already realized that he has feelings for me, so we’ll both leave you alone and you’ll never have to see Marco again.”

Tom’s eyes filled with fire as he leapt forward on top of his clone. Tom punched T repeatedly while T struggled to fight him off. T landed a punch to Tom’s jaw, causing the tired boy to topple over. T took the advantage and began beating on Tom.

“You didn’t want him! You did this to yourself! He doesn’t need someone like you!” T emphasized each sentence with a punch.

“Stop this before one of you gets hurt!” Star yelled, grabbing her wand from where she’d left it. “Double bubble cage!” as she said the spell, bubbles exploded from her wand and onto the two boys.

They each hovered in their own large bubble across the room from each other. Both were bruised a little bloody. Star stared up at them with tears in her eyes.

“What is wrong with you two?! Neither of you are good enough for Marco if this is the way you’re going to act!” Star took a deep breath to try and calm herself. “Why can’t you see what’s happening to you, Tom? It doesn’t matter that you separated your love for Marco because you’ll always fall in love with him over and over again. He’s hurting because he doesn’t know what to do about his feelings now. You need to fix this mess you’ve created.”

Tom listened to Star’s words and turned his gaze to T. He was scared. What if it was all a lie and Marco didn’t have feelings for him? If it was true, why wasn’t Marco there with them? Tom wiped blood from his lips and leaned forward.

“I want to see Marco before I make a decision.” He said, ready to face whatever came his way next.

“I’ll get him. I’m leaving you two in the bubbles while I’m gone so you don’t kill each other.” The two boys agreed, and Star pulled out her dimensional scissors. “I’ll be right back, and we’ll put an end to all of this.”


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So since I was late last week, I decided to be early this week. This was supposed to be the last chapter but I'm just not feeling the end so I'm gonna write a short epilogue that will come out probably next week. Thanks for reading to this point!

Marco sat on a bench in the park, drink in hand and completely relaxed. He was enjoying his alone time for the first time in a week, but he found himself wondering what Star and T were doing. She said she was working on trying to reverse Tom’s spell and he wasn’t sure what that would entail. He just hoped they wouldn’t get hurt in the process.

He was trying to decide what he was going to do next, wanting to milk this free time for all it was worth, when a dimensional rift opened up beside him. Star stepped through, looking very tired. Her eyes were puffy as if she’d been crying and her wand dangled loosely from her fingers.

“Star, what happened?” He asked, standing and setting his drink aside.

“I need you to come with me. It’s important.” She said, reaching her hand out to him.

“Is everything ok?”

“It will be.”

Choosing to trust his friend, Marco took her hand and allowed her to pull him through the portal. What he saw when he emerged from the other side, he had not been expecting. Tom’s room was destroyed, and Tom and T were both floating in bubbles, each bleeding from different places on their faces and covered in forming bruises. He looked at Star, wide eyed.

“What happened here? I thought you were trying to reverse the spell.” Marco said, in shock.

“I am, I just didn’t tell you that it involved coming here.” She said as she walked beneath Tom’s bubble and popped it with the top of her wand.

Tom landed with a thud in the middle of his floor. Star offered her hand to help him up and he stood, staring nervously at Marco. Marco looked between the two.

“Why did I have to come here? I don’t see how I could hep since I’m the whole reason this happened to begin with.” Marco said, looking anywhere but at Tom.

“No, you’re not. It was me. I was afraid of my feelings, afraid of how you would react to them. Instead of coming to you I hid it away.” Tom said, taking a few steps forward.

“Then why do you need me now?”

“When I first realized I loved you, it was when you hugged me for the first time. Star believes I’m falling in love with you again and I need to know if it’s true, so I asked her to bring you here.”

“So, what? You want me to hug you again?” Marco asked, finally looking at Tom, who was now right in front of him.

“Yes.”

Marco suddenly felt embarrassed. He’d never been asked to hug someone so they could confirm their feelings before. Of course, Star and T were watching too and that didn’t make it any better. Still, if it would put an end to all of this, he was willing to ignore his embarrassment and do it. He nodded and stepped forward to wrap his arms loosely around the other. Tom hesitated for a moment, before pulling Marco to him in a tight hug.

The two held each other, neither saying a word as they seemed to forget the two witnesses to this act of affection. Marco wasn’t sure if it had worked or if Tom would push him away any minute, when his body suddenly went slack in his arm. Marco looked to Star, alarmed by the boy that was now beginning to slip to the floor.

“What happened?” Marco asked, lowering Tom to the floor carefully.

“He’s sleeping.” Star said, a smile on her lips.

“Why did he fall asleep?”

“He hasn’t been sleeping because his head has been filled with thoughts of you. I think him falling asleep on you is a good sign.”

Marco sat on the floor, Tom’s head on his lap. He stared down at the boy while Star went to let T out of his bubble. They wouldn’t know for sure what was going to happen until he woke up but for now things seemed like they were looking up. He lightly touched the messy pink hair and ran his thumb along his hairline. Tom smiled in his sleep and Marco’s heart seemed to skip a beat.

T came to sit beside him, and Marco looked at him with apologetic eyes.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t see you as him.” Marco said, feeling ashamed of himself.

“It’s alright. I knew it wasn’t the same for you. I only love you because of him so it makes sense that you’d choose him.”

“But you are him. Once you two fuse we’ll still be together, right?”

“I guess, I just don’t think I’ll really exist anymore. I’ll just go back to being a part of Tom and my memories will be gone.”

“We’ll make new memories and they’ll be better because we’ll both be in love.”

T smiled despite his sadness, he didn’t want Marco to know how truly upset he was with the inevitable future. But he’d do anything for Marco and that included losing himself for the sake of his happiness. He wished for Tom to sleep for a long time, so he could spend just a little while longer by Marco’s side. He was surprised when Marco put his arm around him and pulled him close to his side.

“You two are the same. I love you both.” Marco said, sensing T’s sadness at the situation.

T smiled and rested his head on Marco’s shoulder. He’d enjoy his last little bit of time with Marco and cherish the memories for as long as he could.

\----

Star sat on Tom’s bed, tired from helping him by cleaning up his room. And by helping him, she meant using her wand to clean everything up and restore his room to its previous state. Marco had cleaned Tom and T’s smalls wounds while they waited. Now he’d finally woken up and was about to tell everyone his final decision about T and Marco, making all of them rather anxious.

“I loved Marco before, but I hid it because I thought he wouldn’t love me.” He said, pacing in front of them.

“Yes, we know this.” Star said, trying to nudge him forward.

“Now Marco does love me, and I seem to have fallen for him again despite my efforts to destroy that part of me.”

“Yes, and?” Star tapped her foot on the floor impatiently.

“And the fact that I was able to fall asleep as soon as I was with Marco is a pretty definitive sign that he means a lot to me.”

“Oh, for the love of…we know the whole story. We were there! Please, tell us what you’ve decided to do.” Star begged, flopping back on his bed dramatically.

“I’ve decided that I can’t deny my feelings any longer and I accept that I love Marco Diaz more than anyone else in any dimension. I will take my feelings back so that we can be together without anymore conflict.” He stated everything very matter-o-fact and finished his short speech with an almost heroic stance.

Star and Marco let out a sign of relief, while T looked down to the floor, trying to hide his sadness from the others. Marco looked to him and his smile fell away. It was such a confusing feeling to be sad about loosing a part of Tom when he’d still be there inside of him. He felt bad for the way he acted around him and how annoyed he’d been by his affection.

T stood and crossed the room to Tom. “Alright, let’s do this.” He said, not sounding as determined as he’d hoped.

“Wait.” Marco said, grabbing him by the shoulder. “I know it’s silly to say this, but I’m going to miss you. I don’t think I’ll ever forget about this whole experience.”

T managed a small smile. “I’ll miss you too.”

Marco hugged T tightly, causing the other boy to tear up a bit as he hugged him back. Marco had to enjoy probably the last time Tom would be shorter than him. As they released their hug, Marco grabbed hold of his face and kissed him. Star and Tom both made noises of surprise. When the kiss ended Marco smiled at T.

“I figured I should send you off with a happy memory.” Marco said, releasing T.

T nodded his head, unable to speak from the shock of the unexpected kiss. Tom was mildly annoyed when T came to stand in front of him again. He took a deep breath, looked at Marco and then opened his arms to hug T. The two embraced and were immediately enveloped in a bright light. Star and Marco had to look away and shield their eyes. When it dissipated, only one Tom was standing in their place.

“How do you feel?” Marco asked.

“Whole.” Tom smiled.

“Please, don’t ever do that again.” Marco begged, suddenly feeling exhausted.

“Ok, great to have you back, Tom. I’m going to give you two some alone time now and I’m going to go and watch a bunch of sad TV to replenish my emotions after this ordeal. Goodbye.” With that Star opened a rift and stepped through.

Marco crossed the space to Tom and hugged him. Tom hesitated briefly, before hugging him back. He’d have to get used to not having to hide his feelings. Suddenly overjoyed by the realization that he could now hug and kiss Marco whenever he wanted, Tom lifted Marco into the air and did a half spin with him in his arms.

“This better not have been some awful trick to reverse the spell.” Tom said, burying his nose in Marco’s soft hair.

“I wouldn’t do that to you.” Marco said, relaxing against the other. “I’m just sad that we had to go through all of this for me to realize my feelings.”

“I’m sorry. I was just so desperate and sad when I cast the spell. I wasn’t thinking about what might happen afterward.”

“It’s ok. Let’s just move past it and maybe try talking to each other about these things in the future.”

“Agreed.”

Marco lifted his head off Tom’s chest and looked up at him.

“Technically I’ve kissed you twice now, but both times were with T so…maybe…we get a new first kiss?” He asked, his cheeks turning red with blush.

“Oh yes, absolutely.” Tom smiled.

The two leaned into each other and pressed their lips together in an eager but sweet kiss. Still feeling tired, Tom moved them over to his bed and laid down with Marco in his arms. The two fell asleep, finally happy that everything was back to normal and they could start over.


	10. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the epilogue I promised. It's just a silly little ending to all the drama. I will be releasing a new Tomco fic probably next week so keep an eye out for that! Thank you to all of you who read this fic and left comments and kudos!

Marco paced nervously outside his front door. He’d never really dated anyone before and thus never had to introduce a significant other to his parents. The thought had never even crossed his mind until the other day at dinner when they started asking questions.

“So, Marco, what happened to your friend that was staying with you?” His mother asked as they all sat down together at the table.

“Oh…he, uh, was able to go back home.” Marco said, avoiding eye contact.

“I’m glad that I was wrong about him being your boyfriend.”

Marco choked on a sip of water, unable to respond as he coughed.

“You thought they were dating?” Star asked, eyeing Marco knowingly.

“Oh yes but he cleared it up for us.”

“Why are you brining this up again? And why are you happy that he’s not my b…boyfriend?” Marco asked, finally about to talk again.

“Because I still don’t think it’s appropriate for you to share a room with whoever your dating at your age.”

“That’s it? There’s no other reason?”

“No that was all. Are you alright Marco? Your face is bright red.”

“I’m fine.”

Marco quickly changed the subject to their next family vacation, deciding it was the wrong time to tell them he was actually dating Tom now. Especially if they asked how it happened. He didn’t think his parents could handle the whole story.

Later when he mentioned the story to Tom he got a very different reaction than he’d been expecting.

“They don’t know we’re dating?” Tom asked, taking on an expression that Marco compared to a lost puppy.

“Not yet. It was an awkward time to tell them. What if they ask about everything and I have to tell them about the spell?”

“Can’t you just make something up and avoid telling them the whole story?”

“I couldn’t think of anything on the spot. It was easier to just not tell them.”

Tom fell silent for several minutes as he thought over the conversation.

“I’m going to tell them.” Marco said, noticing the line forming between his third eye and the other two.

“When?”

“Soon.”

“Today?”

Marco chewed his bottom lip nervously. He didn’t want to admit that he was afraid to tell them, but he knew he couldn’t keep it a secret for long. Especially since Star knew and would surely slip up and announce it sooner or later.

“Marco, are you ashamed of me?” Tom asked.

“No! Of course not. It’s not about you, it’s my parents. I don’t know how they’re going to react to finding out I’m dating someone. The last time they thought we were dating my mom wanted to give me the sex talk. I don’t think I can survive that.”

“What if we tell them together? We can face the awkwardness hand in hand.”

“I don’t know.”

“Nothing will change, I’m sure of that.”

Marco had agreed and now he was faced with the reality of it as he waited for Tom to arrive. His stomach was doing flips and he couldn’t sit still. He startled when a portal opened up beside him. Tom stepped out with a big smile on his face.

“Ready?” He asked.

“No.”

“Come on. It will be fine.”

Tom grabbed Marco’s hand and opened the front door. Marco took a deep breath and stepped into the living room where his parents were sitting chatting about something. They’d become use to see Tom when T was around and didn’t seem to notice the two standing there. Marco froze up until Tom waved a hand in front of his face.

“Um…mom, dad.” Marco’s voice came out quieter than he had intended but they heard him anyway.

“Oh, hello son. Did you need us for something?” He dad asked with a big grin.

“I wanted to tell you that…I…um…I’m…”

“Is something wrong?” His mom asked.

“No I’m just…kind of…”

“Oh, Tom how lovely to see that you’ve come back to visit.”

“He’s here because…because…”

“Because we’re dating.” Tom said, unable to hold it in any longer.

Marco’s mouth fell agape as he turned to look at Tom.

“Marco…how could you?” He mother asked. “You lied to us.”

“No, I didn’t! You asked if I was dating him weeks ago and I wasn’t then. I just am now. So, I didn’t lie.” The words spilled from Marco’s mouth faster than he could think.

“How long have you two been dating?” His dad asked.

“About a week.”

“Well that’s ok then. Are you boys hungry? I can fix a snack.” He mother said, standing from the couch.

“That’s it? You’re ok with this?” Marco asked.

“Of course. As long as you are happy, so are we.”

Marco let out a sigh of relief as he turned to see Tom smiling at him in a “told you so” kind of way. Everything was ok, and Marco felt silly for stressing about it so much. Of course, his parents would be ok with it.

“Although, I think it’s time you had that talk with your father.” With that his mother left the room.

Tom, Marco and his dad all stared awkwardly at anything but each other, not wanting to think about “the talk” or what it insinuated.


End file.
